If you
were shopping for a horn in
Leipzig in 1893 you might have bought one like this

Ed. Kruspe

Single

Label :

Ed. Kruspe
Erfurt u.
Leipzig Mozartstrasse
Filiale

Model:

Single

Serial Number:

None

Date of Manufacture:

1893

Key(s):

F and lower depending on terminal crook

Valves:

3 rotary with adjustable springs

Bore:

ca. 11.45 mm

Bell Flare:

very wide gusset

Bell Throat:

ca. 7.0 cm.

Bell Diameter:

30.5 cm.

Base Metal:

Rose Brass

Finish:

unlacquered

.(click on photos for larger view)

The well-used horn shown above is a single
horn in pitched in F or E♭ depending on its terminal
crook. It was made by the firm of Eduard Kruspe in Erfurt
Germany, probably around 1893. The high copper
content of its red brass makes it very susceptible to
wear and damage as witnessed by many patches, dents,
and wrinkles..[1] Two large patches on the outside
of the bell are visible in the photo above left,
including one under the bell brace. The horn is
missing its original terminal crook(s) and its main
tuning slide.

The bell is signed signed “Ed.
Kruspe/Erfurt u./ Leipzig
Mozartstrasse/Filiale [Ed. Kruspe,
Erfurt, and represented on Mozartstrasse,
Leipzig]. Eduard Kruspe's younger brother,
Friedrich Wilhelm Kruspe, maintained their
father's original woodwind workshop in Erfurt.
On September 1, 1893 the two sibling companies
opened a joint exhibition and sale of their
products at no.5
Mozartstrasse, Leipzig in close proximity to
the concert house and Royal
Conservatory. The showroom was supervised by
Wilhelm's
oldest son, Carl Kruspe..[2]

The clockwork valve springs feature wheels to
adjust the spring tension. The same type of
mechanism is found on other horns by various
makers including an anonymous
German horn and one from the
Philadelphia workshop of Carl
Ernst Doelling. The concept of
adjustable springs had been employed much
earlier than the supposed date of this horn.
At right is a drawing from a pamphlet by J.M.
Bürger of Strasbourg (1877) showing the
same spring adjustment capability.

A very large patch covers about a third of the
interior surface of the bell where the
player's right hand has worn the original
metal very thin.

Acknowledgments

Notes

1. Several
terms are used popularly to describe brass alloys depending
on the percentage of copper content: "red" brass contains 85
to 90 percent copper and 15 to 10 percent zinc. At the other
extreme is "yellow" brass with about 65 percent copper and
35 percent zinc. In between are "rose" brass (lighter red)
and "gold" brass (darker yellow) which are sometimes used
interchangeably with each other. The metallurgy industry
uses specific terms such as Alloy C83400 (90% copper, 10%
zinc) to avoid ambiguity. (back)

2. Another example of this endeavor is
represented
by a trombone in
the collection of the Grassi Museum of Musical instruments
at the
University of Leipzig. It is signed “Ed. Kruspe/Herzgl.
S.M. Holieferant / Erfurt. /Filiale: C. Kruspe Leipzig”.
Ed. Kruspe had already been represented in Leipzig
for several years by the Gewandhaus Orchestra's second horn
player, Eduard Müller As early as
1890 an advertisement for Firma Ed. Kruspe announced
that Müller was its representative having a
showroom in Leipzig: “Muster-Lager in
Leipzig./Vertreter:/Herr Ed. Müller, Mitglied der
Theater- und Gewandhaus-Kapelle.”.
(back)